Vol. 8, Issue 4 (2019)

Author(s):
Promita Gundev, Komal Chauhan and Divya Sachdev

Abstract:
Tocopherols are the natural antioxidants present in plant oils. Their determination is affected by the technique and solvents used for their extraction. The aim of the study was to determine the tocopherol (α, γ and δ) content of two underutilized seed oils (avocado and flaxseed oil) and to see the effects of solvents on their extraction methods. The extraction of tocopherol was performed using two solvents namely, ethanol and methanol and the tocopherols (α, γ and δ) were identified and quantified using reverse phase UPLC (Ultra performance liquid chromatograph) equipped with Photo diode Array (PDA) detector at 295 nm. Results showed that the avocado oil contains high amount of α- Tocopherol (33.26ppm) whereas flaxseed oil was rich in γ- Tocopherol (84.58 ppm). The concentration of α, γ and δ tocopherols were found to be higher in the sample extracted with methanol compared to ethanol extracted samples for both the oils.